I did think some varieties of apple were self-fertile?

I would love to have something more exotic - I had an apricot when I
lived in London but my patch is much less sunny than the garden there
was - it gets a few hours of sun a day in the summer, a bit in the
winter too when the tree next door has no leaves!

If I can't put veg in the patch then I could just grow tomatoes etc. in
pots, would it be OK to have a little soft fruit in the patch? My
alpine strawberries are going strong in pots just now, and my regular
strawberries don't seem to realise it's November and have just grown
some more fruit! So it could be time to give them all a bit more space.

thanks for all the advice!

Katie